Seoul Station never truly slept.
Even after the world changed.
Hunters passed through reinforced barricades.
Supply trucks moved constantly.
Dungeon sirens hummed beneath concrete streets like a restless heartbeat.
Auxrien stood across the road watching quietly.
The entrance pulsed faintly beneath a collapsed subway platform.
A violet distortion twisted the air.
F-Rank dungeon.
Recently stabilized.
Low risk.
Officially.
He adjusted his jacket.
"…Last time I ignored places like this."
Because he believed stronger floors mattered more.
Because arrogance wasted time.
Not again.
He moved forward.
Crowds barely noticed him.
Hunters laughed nearby.
Wexture groups discussed formations.
Security guards argued about paperwork.
Nobody watched the maintenance stairwell beside the barrier.
Auxrien slipped through.
Unnoticed.
The dungeon swallowed him immediately.
Cold air crawled across skin.
Concrete subway tunnels stretched endlessly downward.
Broken lights flickered weakly.
Old advertisements peeled from walls.
Rust covered abandoned trains.
Mana pressure felt heavier than F-rank should allow.
He frowned.
"…Something's wrong."
A wet growl answered.
Red eyes opened inside darkness.
Small.
Crooked shapes emerged.
Green skin.
Crooked blades.
Hobgoblins.
Dozens.
Some rode massive wolves covered in black veins.
Blood dripped constantly from their fangs.
Blood-sucking wolves.
Auxrien exhaled slowly.
Perfect.
Mana gathered around his hands.
Lightning flickered.
Fire followed.
Dual casting stabilized slightly compared to yesterday.
"Come."
They screamed.
Charged together.
The first rider leapt forward.
Spear descending.
Auxrien stepped sideways.
Lightning exploded upward.
The rider's chest burst apart midair.
Fire followed instantly.
Three wolves burned alive.
He moved through them smoothly.
Punch.
Kick.
Mana burst.
Bodies shattered.
Steel clattered across concrete.
For a moment—
it felt easy.
Too easy.
Then arrows came.
Three struck simultaneously.
One pierced his shoulder.
Another his thigh.
Pain exploded.
He stumbled.
More hobgoblins rushed him together.
Blades slashed.
Armorless body paid the price.
Blood sprayed across stone.
Auxrien retaliated violently.
Lightning tore through five enemies.
Firestorm erupted across corridor.
Smoke swallowed everything.
Breathing heavier now.
Mana draining quickly.
He killed another rider.
Then another.
But numbers didn't stop.
They adapted.
Circled.
Forced distance.
A wolf slammed into him from the side.
Bones rattled.
Another tore across his back.
He spun desperately.
Lightning discharged wildly.
Bodies collapsed.
Silence followed.
Twenty corpses surrounded him.
Auxrien wiped blood from his lips.
"…Still sloppy."
Then—
the tunnel darkened.
Mana pressure changed completely.
Every corpse trembled.
Something walked forward slowly.
Heavy.
Calm.
Purple light emerged first.
Stripes glowing faintly.
A tiger stepped into view.
Massive.
Nearly touching the tunnel ceiling.
Half its flesh missing.
One side exposed skeletal ribs.
Bone blackened like charcoal.
The other half burned with crimson energy.
Eyes empty.
Endless hunger.
Auxrien's instincts screamed.
Danger.
"…You're not F-rank."
The creature vanished.
Impact arrived next.
Claws slammed into his chest.
Stone shattered behind him.
Air vanished from lungs.
He crashed through concrete pillars violently.
Blood flooded his mouth.
Too fast.
He forced himself standing.
Lightning gathered desperately.
The tiger appeared again.
Jaw closing toward his neck.
He barely raised an arm.
Bones cracked instantly.
Screaming tore from him unwillingly.
Fire erupted blindly.
The explosion forced distance.
Smoke cleared.
The tiger remained untouched.
It tilted its head almost curiously.
Predator examining prey.
Auxrien staggered backward.
Mana nearly empty.
Impossible.
He attacked again.
Lightning strike.
Flame spear.
Everything missed.
The beast moved like flowing shadow.
Claws tore across his abdomen.
Warmth spilled downward.
His knees buckled.
Vision blurred.
"I…"
He collapsed.
Cold stone against cheek.
Memories returned.
Tower collapsing.
Dragonfire.
Failure again.
The tiger approached slowly.
No hurry.
It knew.
He could not escape.
Fear arrived.
Not of dying.
Of repeating the same ending.
Claws lifted.
Flash.
A kitchen table.
Steam rising from cheap soup.
His mother laughing softly.
"You came home early today."
Her tired eyes hiding exhaustion.
Hands rough from work.
Waiting every night.
"…Eat properly."
His throat tightened.
"I promised…"
The claw descended.
Darkness swallowed vision.
A voice echoed.
Laughter layered across eternity.
Chronos.
"Do you wish to rewrite regret?"
Blood pooled beneath him.
"…You said…"
Breath failed.
"…you would help me."
The contract words returned.
Become stronger.
Take revenge.
Change fate.
His mother's smile flickered again.
Alive.
Not ash beneath ruins.
Not gone.
"I…"
Something snapped inside him.
Not anger.
Decision.
"I refuse to lose again."
Silence fell.
Complete.
The tiger froze mid-strike.
Dust stopped falling.
Blood droplets hung motionless.
Sound disappeared.
Auxrien blinked weakly.
"…What?"
White text appeared before him.
Cold.
Unavoidable.
---
UNOBSERVED CONDITION MET.
---
No wolves.
No guards.
No living eyes watching.
Only death surrounding him.
---
UNIQUE SKILL ACTIVATED.
REWRITE REALITY.
---
Pain vanished briefly.
Understanding flooded him instinctively.
Rewrite.
Anything.
One moment.
One change.
He looked down.
His shattered body.
Blood everywhere.
"…Stand."
Reality trembled.
The wound reversed.
Bone reformed.
Blood returned into flesh.
Air rushed violently into lungs.
Time resumed instantly.
The tiger struck again.
But Auxrien moved first.
Lightning erupted infinitely brighter.
Fire spiraled around him like a storm.
Mana exploded beyond limits.
The tiger hesitated.
For the first time.
Fear.
He stepped forward.
Not rushed.
Certain.
Lightning blade formed within his hand.
"Round two."
The beast lunged desperately.
He disappeared.
Appeared beside it.
Slash.
Bone shattered.
Fire burst through exposed ribs.
The tiger roared violently.
Purple energy erupted.
Claws ripped across his side again.
He ignored pain.
Another rewrite whispered silently.
Muscles corrected.
Strength sharpened.
Lightning pierced through skull.
The monster collapsed.
Dust settled slowly.
Auxrien stood trembling.
Heart racing.
"…What did I just…"
Darkness swallowed him suddenly.
—
Blood lake.
Endless ceiling.
A chair waited.
The black being sat comfortably.
Chronos.
Hands folded.
Eyes unseen.
"You used it."
Auxrien struggled standing.
"What… was that?"
A quiet laugh echoed.
"Hope."
The being leaned forward slightly.
Shadow pressure crushed the air.
"Time is not on our side."
Clock hands spun wildly behind him.
"Grow faster."
Auxrien reached forward.
"My mother—"
Darkness swallowed the being again.
"No more questions."
The world collapsed.
—
He woke lying inside Seoul Station tunnel.
Monster corpses everywhere.
Sirens echoed distantly.
Hunters shouting somewhere above.
Head pounding.
Memory fading.
Only one thought remained.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Time moved.
And something waited ahead.